Rotary pump



p 1 K. R. PIKE. 3,001,480

7 ROTARY PUMP 2 Sheets-$heet 1 Filed June 12, 1959 Fuca. 3

F 4 INVENTOR.

\C1- KENNETH P\.P\KE.

Jam 4/ W ATTORNEY Sept. 26, 1961 K. R. PIKE 3,001,480

ROTARY PUMP Filed June 12, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. KENNETH R. Q\ KE .BYJMMU ATTORNEY 3,001 480 RDTARY PUMP V Kenneth R. Pike, Hartford, Wis., assignor to West fiend Aluminum Co, West Bend, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed June" 12, 1959, SeriNo. 819,879 1 Claim. (Cl. 103-117) This invention relates to rotary pumps andmore particularly to rotary pumps having impellers of resilient material adapted for use in cooling systems 'of ioutboard motors.

Pumps of this type include a casing with a substantially cylindrical chamber therein having an inlet and outlet to such chamber. An impeller ofqresilient materialhaving aplurality of deflectable radially extending vanes is rotatably mounted in the chamber. The circumferential wall is at a varying distance from the axis of theimpeller. When the impeller is rotated to operate the pump, the opposite faces and vanes of the impeller wipe against the end and circumferential walls of the ohanrhenrespectively, causing scoring of such walls when sand and other foreign material becomes lodged between the impeller and the walls.

It isthe object ofthis invention to provide-a simple, relatively inexpensive means for eliminating or sub stantially reducing scoring of the chamber wa1ls' tothere by prolong the life of the pump.

This is accomplished by providingsgrooves or depressions in the surfaces forming wiping edges against which the impeller slides which serve to wipeany sand or foreign material from the impellerfand resuspencl the material in the fluid. A passageway through which the sand particles can be flushed into the fluid moving through the pump may be provided. The grooves for wiping the end faces of the impeller are preferably formed by a plurality of openings in a pair of plates which cooperate with the pump housing to form the end walls of the cylindrical chamber in which the impeller is rotatably mounted. The circumferential wall of the chamber can also be provided with a suitable groove to wipe the edges of the impeller vanes in much the same manner as the apertured end plates wipe the end faces of the impeller.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from the specification and claim, as will obvious modifications of the two embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of the lower portion of an outboard motor (with a part of the motor leg broken away) on which a pump embodying my invention is installed;

FiG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are vertical sectional views taken along lines 3-3 and 4-4 of FIG. 2, respectively;

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are horizontal sectional views taken along lines 5-5, 6-6 and 77 of FIG. 4, respectively; and

FIGS. 8 and 9 are horizontal sectional views similar to FIGS. 5 and 7, respectively, showing a second embodiment of my invention.

While this invention is particularly adapted for pumps used in outboard motor cooling systems, it should be understood that its usefulness is not limited to such applications.

Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows the lower portion of an outboard motor of conventional design including a propeller 10 rotatably mounted in a lower gear housing 12 attached to an upper gear housing 14. A pump 16 which forms the subject matter of this invention is mounted on the top wall 18 of upper gear housing Patented Sept. 26, 1951 '2 14 insidet'he lower end: of a motorleg 21 Pump 16 and propeller are driven by a drive shaft .22 from an engine-(not shown) mounted onimotor leg 20.

As shown in FIGS. 2, .3 and 4, pump 16 includes a housing 24 and a backplate 26 mounted together on inner column 27 of the upper gear housing by machine screws 28 threaded into wall 18.

Housing .24 has a substantially cylindrical pump chamber 31? therein having circumferential side wall 32 and opposite end walls formed bybackplate 26 and a top plate34 fitted inside chamber 30 of the pump housing.

Drive shaft 22 isrotatably' mounted incolumn '27 and extends through housing 24:and plates 26and 34. To

prevent leakage the shaft may'be-providedwitha packing plates 26 and 34 and an outlet port'52formed in topof pump housing 24 (FIG. 4). Thus, it is seen that when sand particles become lodged between the rotating impeller and the chamber walls, damage will result if some means is not provided to wipe the sand from the mating surfaces and flush it back into the water moving through the pump.

This is accomplished by providing-a plurality-of depressions or openings-in back'and top plates io and 34-,

respectively, which not only serve to pass water to and from chamber 30 hut also serve to provide an edge for wiping sand from the impeller and a passageway for flushing it back into the moving water. FIGS. 8 and 9 show the preferred embodiment of my invention wherein back plate 26 (-FIG. 9) has a plurality of angularly spaced openings 54, 56 and 58 and top plate 34 (FIG. 8) has an angularly spaced opening 60 and a notch 62. The openings in the plates shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are so arranged that when taken together they extend radially all the way from the hub 42 to wall 32 of chamber 36 so that the entire surface of the impeller will be subjected to their wiping action. The openings are angularly spaced from each other to maintain the structural integrity of the plates. Thus, it is seen that when impeller 40 is rotated clockwise (as shown by the arrow in FIG. 6) one end surface thereof will be wiped by edges 54a, 56a and 58a of openings 54, 56 and 58, respectively, in plate 26 (FIG. 9) and the other end surface will be wiped by edges 5th: and 62a of opening 60 and notch 62, respectively, in plate 34 (FIG. 8). t

The plate openings can be laid out in a great variety of different arrangements. A second embodiment of my invention is shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 wherein plate 26 has openings 64, 66 *with edges 64a, 66a, respectively, arranged as shown in FIG. 7 and plate 34 has an opening 68 and a notch 70 with edges 68a, 70a, respectively, arranged as shown in FIG. 5. It is noted that openings 64 and 66 (FIG. 7) do not, when taken together, extend the entire radial distance from hub to cylindrical wall as is the case with the other plates shown. This arrangement does, of course, provide some of the desired wiping and flushing action but to a lesser extent than that of the preferred embodiment (FIGS. 8 and 9).

As clearly shown in FIG. 5, for example, the opening 68 with wiping edge 68a for wiping body portion 46 of impeller 40 extends radially outwardly from body fig? from the body is flushed back into the water moving through the pump.

To completely wipe all surfaces of the impeller, means for wiping the edges of impeller vanes 48 which slide against wall 32 are provided. In the particular pump construction shown in the drawings, an edge 74 formed at the bumped-out portion 76 of the housing which communicates with outlet port 52 serves to wipe any sand or other foreign material from 'between the edges of the impeller vanes and chamber wall 32. It should be understood that if a difierent outlet arrangement were employed wherein, for example, no outlet portion 76 was used, a suitable wiping edge could be provided by a groove in wall 32 extending from one end wall of the pump chamber to the other.

Although two embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claim.

-I claim:

In a rotary pump, a housing having a substantially cylindrical cavity therein, a first metal stamping fitted in said cavity, a second metal stamping mounted on said housing over said cavity, said first and second stampings forming the end walls of a substantially cylindrical pump chamber with the wall of said cavity forming the side wall of said pump chamber, an inlet port and an outlet port communicating with said chamber, an impeller having a plurality of flexible and resilient vanes rotatably mounted in said chamber and adapted to pump fluid from said inlet port to said outlet port when rotated, means for rotating said impeller, said impeller having opposite end face areas which rotate in contact with said first and second stampings, said vanes having peripheral edges which wipe against said side wall of the pump chamber, a plurality of cut-out portions in each of said end stampings providing edges for wiping sand and other foreign material from said impeller, said wiping edges extending radially across said entire end face areas of said impeller, at least one cut-out portion in each stamping communicating with said inlet and outlet ports to allow liquid to flow to and from said pump chamber through said end stampings, and at least one depression in the side wall of said chamber forming a wiping edge to Wipe sand and other foreign material from the peripheral edges of said impeller vanes.

ReferencesCited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,348,771 Auger Aug. 3, 1920 1,348,772 Auger Aug. 3, 1920 1,348,773 Auger Aug. 3, 1920 2,455,194 Rumsey Nov. 30, 1948 2,487,732 Schanzlin Nov. 8, 1949 2,536,374 Kincannon Jan. 2, 1951 2,636,478 Smyser Apr. 28, 1953 2,636,479 Smyser Apr. 28, 1953 2,663,263 Mayus et al Dec. 22, 1953 2,711,136 Arnold June 21, 1955 2,718,758 Minshall et a1 Sept. 27, 1955 2,779,293 Lung Ian. 29, 1957 2,781,730 Newmier Feb. 19, 1957 2,833,224 Meyer et al. May 6, 1958 2,848,952 \Vakeman Aug. 26, 1958 2,855,853 Yaugher et a1. Oct. 14, 1958 2,872,872 Quintilian Feb. 10, 1959 2,884,864 Bobnar May 5, 1959 2,887,064 Say May 19, 1959 2,891,483 Murray et al. June 23, 1959 

